


locked up for everyone to see

by orphan_account



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Post-Mockingjay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-20
Updated: 2012-11-20
Packaged: 2017-11-19 02:28:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/568036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knew Haymitch missed Effie. What they didn't know was how much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	locked up for everyone to see

Everyone knew Haymitch missed Effie. What they didn't know was how much.

They knew he sent letters to her while she was helping rebuild the Capitol. When Katniss and Peeta sent letters to her asking about her health and how things were going, and told her about life in Twelve, he sent his own with them. No one knew what those letters said, and no one bothered to ask.

They knew he wasn't as drunk as he used to be. He'd tried to quit cold turkey about a month after Effie left, and it worked for a while, until the withdrawals started. Finally, he'd called Mrs. Everdeen in District 4 and asked her if she knew anything about how to do it right. She gave him what advice she had and referred him to a friend who could help him more. It had taken a while, but he finally got to a point where he would only have two drinks a week. Katniss and Peeta were proud of him.

They knew he'd cleaned up a bit. His hair was a bit shorter, cleaner. He did his own laundry more often; not well, but well enough. He'd cleaned up his house, throwing away the bottles he'd drunk out of, selling the ones he told himself he wasn't going to.

But there were the things they didn't know.

They didn't know he called her, too. The calls were usually at night, when one of them had nightmares and didn't want to cry to anyone else. Every once in a while, though, one of them would call during the day, just to check up on the other. The way she talked and laughed with him on the phone, Haymitch believed she'd gotten the light back in her eyes, or at least some of it. Once Haymitch even told Effie he missed her, and he could almost see her smile.

They didn't know he stopped sleeping with his knife. Once, when he was half-asleep and a bit tipsy, he thought he saw Effie in bed beside him. He reached out to pull her close and nicked himself in the cheek. That happened about three more times before he decided to put the thing away.

They didn't know about his dreams. Oh, he still had the old nightmares, of course, but they were dim, hazy, few and far between. But there were new nightmares. The ones where he saw her, saw what they did to her, and he couldn't stop it. There were the Good Dreams, though, the ones where she was happy and healthy again. The light was almost all there, and he was with her. Most of the Good Dreams were simple; just them walking through District 12, or sitting beside each other during dinner, laughing and smiling. And then there were the Other Dreams. Like the one where he got down on his knee in front of her, or the one where she's in a white dress (simple by old Effie's standards, but gorgeously simple on new Effie), or the one where he kisses Effie's stomach, larger than usual. He doesn't know how he feels about those Other Dreams yet.

When Effie decided her time at the Capitol was over, and came to Twelve to stay, everyone figured Haymitch would be there to meet her when she got off the train. They would see him dressed up, clean-shaven, and, amazingly, sober, just as they'd expected.

They didn't think he would grin from ear to ear when he saw her. Or run to her and take her into his arms. Or kiss her.

But then again, there were a lot more things they didn't know.


End file.
